And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins. By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Luke 1:76-79

PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD

The overarching theme for this Advent series is waiting with hopeful anticipation for the coming of the Lord. There are many different ways of waiting and many of them are not very pleasant. We can wait with anxiety and impatience, we can waste our time waiting, we can do everything and anything to distract ourselves from what we are waiting to happen, or we can do nothing. This Advent, what if we found another way to wait? 

I recently listened to a podcast, the host, Jen Hatmaker, interviews one of my favorite authors, the ordained Lutheran pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber. Bolz-Weber spoke of how Advent is a season of preparation; we are preparing ourselves and our hearts for the way of the Lord. 

Our text today is a brief section of Zechariah’s song of praise and prophecy after the birth of his son, John. John is proclaimed to be a prophet of the Most High and he is set apart to prepare the people for the coming of their Lord. 

Yesterday, we lit the second Advent candle, the candle of peace. Lighting the wreath is a way of being intentional in preparing ourselves for the coming of the Lord. We are gifted with a theme to focus on throughout our week and invite the Spirit to soften our hearts, to prepare them. 

As we go into this week, living in a world that seems to be anything but peaceful may we take comfort in Frederick Buechner’s beautiful definition of peace. He writes in his book of daily meditations, Listening to Your Life, “…for Jesus, peace seems to have meant not the absence of struggle but the presence of love.” 

Grace and Peace,
Margaret